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“Many of them have never been on a mountain bike,” said Ashcraft, who manages the Bike Park that opens Saturday. “... I think you can do this with no experience.”

That was reassuring, since I’m about a month into my mountain biking career. And I’d yet to try anything like the Bike Park — a 5.5-mile, 1,700-foot descent through trees and rocks, over bridges and past some terrific views of the valley and lake below.

An hour later, Ashcraft was proven right. I had fun. I didn’t crash. Only two or three times did I feel overwhelmed by the terrain, and it was easy to walk around those technical spots.

Our route was primarily green. We occasionally had to go on blue sections to avoid riding on a road (little character there). There was a noticeable difference between the greens and blues — particularly in the steepest sections. We rode Pura Vida (rated green), Apollo (green), Dirty Blonde (blue), AzuLejos (blue) and Lupine (green).

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